{{ story.headline }}

{{ story.subheading }}

Six days till Moogfest takes over downtown Durham, and tickets are going fast.

VIP passes are gone. Many workshops are full. Invites are out for add-on parties and special non-ticketed events.

Those of you attending the fest are likely planning out your schedules. Those on the fence are scanning the talks, acts and performances, prepping to make a last minute decision. Some of you may sit this year out, hear and read how it went and sign on for next.

Regardless of where you stand on Moogfest, we hope to have you covered here at ExitEvent. Our role in the festival is three-fold:

First, we've got all hands on deck to cover the festival. We've got two to four reporters working each day of the event and a photographer bopping around during its entirety. We'll run a live blog with updates from talks, panels, presentations and exhibits, as well as photos and videos. If you'd like to submit any content during the festival, you can email it to laura@exitevent.com.

Second, we're helping to program the festival.With dozens of journalists coming to town, along with technology and music enthusiasts from around the world, It's important to us that local entrepreneurs get to share the stage with the likes of keynotes Martine Rothblatt and Neil Harbisson. On Friday afternoon from 2-3:30 p.m. at Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship's space, I'll host a "Future of Creativity" session featuring six local startup founders. They'll each give a seven-minute lightning talk then participate in some Q&A about launching and building their businesses in North Carolina.

Here's the description:

“Founding the Future Of” features innovators in North Carolina who exemplify what Moogfest is about. They are companies and entrepreneurs who see a different future for industry and are bold enough to take it on with their technology product or service. In many cases, there is intellectual property involved. Watch and listen as they demo their products or technology, and then sit down for a conversation about building their companies in the Triangle region of North Carolina.

The guests represent a diversity of technologies, but each are impacting the future of their industry in some dramatic way. These talks are not pitches or product demos. I've asked each person to use the time to explain how their technology works, how it moves an industry into the future and how it impacts the way things have always been done. Here's the lineup:

Finally, we'll provide a guide to Moogfest. We'll share the talks and presentations we're anticipating most, and those we'll have reporters covering. For a hint, here's some of our coverage leading up to Moogfest. We'll drop the guide early next week.

In the meantime, we're curious what readers are most anticipating about Moogfest—programs, parties, workshops, acts, etc. Is there anything missing from the agenda that you'd like to see? Share your thoughts in the comments below, or email us.

Laura Baverman

Editor

Laura Baverman manages the day-to-day at ExitEvent, writing and editing stories, lining up contributors and representing us in the community. She also works as a USA Today columnist, writing the Startups and Entrepreneurs column every other week in print and online. Laura has spent a decade in journalism, most of those years as a business reporter in her hometown Cincinnati. Her Ohio roots run deep, but she's learning to love the South. Especially sun, all months of the year.